Performance Psychology: How to Retune Organisational Mind Power: Before Any Major Change in Sales and Financial Strategy Can Be Effected in Business, Management Must Understand Performance Psychology

Article excerpt

While watching the varying fortunes of global economic indicators, it's important to remember that successful businesses do well even in bad times and the not-so-smart still lose money in good times.

Tapping into people power and understanding performance psychology is critical to the successful implementation of any major business changes. A powerful tool for effecting major life changes, performance psychology encompasses the self image (the perception we have of ourselves), and self esteem (which affects what we feel we can contribute).

In business these major life changes have five premises:

1. Ideas and their sources Most people have greater creative ability than they believe and creative thinking can best be stimulated by group participation. Once members have experienced a mental change in their belief system through performance psychology they can be encouraged to tap into their hidden genius. Being creative and developing new ideas is natural; it also reduces stress and brings about improved mental health by stimulating the brain's neurons.

2. Thinking the impossible It is a falsely held notion that you need to be learned or intelligent to be a great thinker. At school we win points by demonstrating our fluency of language or our knowledge. The error here is to think that the knowledge is sufficient in itself, making any further exploration of the topic or situation unnecessary. So is creativity stilled. This often happens in business where 'expert' advice is given and accepted the opportunity to explore it for other ideas is lost. To think the impossible requires one to become a thinker as opposed to an intellectual. Thinking is a skill that can easily be learned. Great thinkers ask other people for their ideas so that they can open their minds to a permutation of ideas.

Some corporate decision makers simply state their on something up front and then spend the remainder of their report defending that position instead of absorbing all the negative or positive feedback and other ideas or possibilities.

3. People will flood you with ideas if you let them An earlier "mind management" article talked about "feeling significant". The greatest gift management can give staff is to make them feel good about themselves. …